Students get ready for first integrated prom at Georgia high school
 

Students get ready for first integrated prom at Georgia high school
04/21/2002 10:42 PM EDT


By Elliott Minor
The Associated Press

BUTLER, Ga. -- Nearly 15 years before Gerica McCrary was born, recently integrated Taylor County High School stopped sponsoring a prom. Parents and students set up their own -- one for blacks and one for whites.

The tradition continued for 31 springs in this rural county of 8,800 midway between Columbus and Macon in central Georgia until McCrary asked her fellow juniors to "stand for what is right" and vote to hold one prom for students of all races.

"In the beginning, the students were afraid of change," the black 17-year-old said. "But the kids got together. The students tore down the Berlin Wall. Both sides were tired of it.

"Now, I walk through the halls of the school and people are smiling," she said. "It brings tears to my eyes. We are in unity."

The junior class is responsible for setting up each year's prom, so next year's class could vote to go back to separate dances. But McCrary and others are hopeful that their May 3 bash -- at a hotel 50 miles away in Columbus -- will end the long history of segregation.

Taylor County High School has 420 students, 226 of them black. Nearly 75 percent of the juniors and seniors supported McCrary's proposal for one prom.

The decision upset a few parents, but only because they have a hard time adjusting to change, said Steve Smith, a high school algebra teacher who attended Taylor County schools during desegregation. He and his wife are assisting the junior class on behalf of their daughter and niece, both Taylor County students.

"We work together. We go to school together. Why is one night out of the year a big deal?" he asked.

Public schools in the rural South ignored federal orders to desegregate for decades. Taylor County did not allow blacks and whites to sit in the same classrooms until 26 years after the 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kan., which declared segregated schools unconstitutional.

Many rural Georgia high schools didn't integrate until the 1970s. After that, many school officials stopped sponsoring proms, in part because of the fear of interracial dating.

In some areas, parents and students would hold their own proms -- often separated by race. Taylor County is among the last to cling to the practice. Vidalia city schools in east central Georgia still have separate proms.

Even today, Taylor County school officials don't like to discuss the prom, saying it is a private event. In some other south Georgia counties, students shun the school-sponsored proms and attend private spring dances at country clubs or meeting halls instead.

Ralph Noble, president of the 37,000-member Georgia Association of Educators, said the students' decision "truly shows that children are wiser than adults many times."

McCrary, who has a 4.0 average and participates in several extracurricular activities, said she was inspired by a classroom slogan that said: "Stand for what is right, or stand alone."

"At first, I was standing alone," she said. "Some thought it was absurd. I wanted unity, diversity, equality. Now, when I walk through the school, people congratulate me."

McCrary and about a dozen fellow students were making prom decorations in the cafeteria this week. She rushed from table to table, encouraging and praising classmates who were stuffing invitations into envelopes and painting signs festooned with glitter.

"She's definitely a leader," said Jeremie Williams, a black junior. "I was for it all along. I saw how other schools were coming together and I thought we should come together and have one prom. I'll go and have a good time."

From www.blackamericaweb.com

I can believe that. There are STILL some places in Louisiana where there are SEPARATE proms, dances, etc. Some schools have a white and black homecoming queen, etc. I'm not surprised about this.

YET, when you hear about football, basketball, etc they WANT the brothas, NO SEPARATE teams...:rolleyes:

WOW! This really shocked me! I've never heard of anything like having separate proms for whites and blacks. :o
And a separate white and black homecoming queen! :eek: That's just absurd! :rolleyes:
I can't believe that it went on for so long with noone voting for change! :(
I'm still shocked and :mad: that stuff like this still goes on!
But you are right AKA2'D...they sure want to include us in everything when football and basketball seasons roll around! :rolleyes:

My high school...
 

Up until about 1981 my high school had separate proms one at the country club for whites and all class officials were invited (the blacks never went) and one of the municipal center for the blacks.
As for homecoming we have a black and a white representing each class. And Homecoming Queen and the Maid of Honor switch every year for example my junior year we had a white queen and a black maid my senior year we had a black queen and a white maid. This is regardless of who get the highest votes. There are four black senior ladies and for white seniors. Depending on the year, the person with the highest number of votes for her race is the queen no matter what the person of the opposite race received. Example: This is what happened my junior year

Black girl#1 55
White girl #1 46
Black girl#2 60
White#2 37
Etc. White Girl#1 won because it was a white year.

Isn't this horrible. I don't think I could except something I know I didn't win, just because it's my year.
One year a black girl was maid even though she has 156 votes to the white queen's 45 votes.

I think I can tell y'all the possible origin of this custom and NO, I don't agree with it but I'm just reportin' here. Don't kill the messenger.

Back during integration in the sixties and seventies, many black high schools and white high schools were combined as the easiest way to meet government regulations. Immediately, a lot of people of both races began to holler "They won't like our music at the proms" or "It's not fair to have one Miss ___ High School because if you have more judges from one race, they won't like the beauty standards of the other." Sooo...thus began the separate proms and "Miss White___HS and Miss Black___ HS."

The main thing that seems to have put an end to dual beauty queens around here is the influx of immigrants. Now our city high school would have to add Hispanic and Asian beauty queens plus we seem to have a lot of multiracial students lately and it was just getting out of hand, so we have one HC Queen (Hispanic the last 2 years) plus a large court.